"I have to think you're close to a bottom," the oil and gas
driller and head of BP
Capital Management told Street
Signs before natural gas settled at
$1.984. "You’ve got the rig count going down. That’s what you
want to watch."

Ten to 15 rigs were closed last week, he
said, and more will be closed this week.

"As the rig count goes off it’s gonna
cause supply to shorten up. It’ll take a little while for it to
happen," he said.

Pickens has pushed for federal
legislation that would put natural gas into commercial vehicles,
so he said he was encouraged after hearing Energy Secretary
Steven
Chu speak at a conference Wednesday about putting natural gas
in heavy-duty trucks.

"What a great time to do it," he said,
especially when natural gas prices are about half the national
average of gasoline at the pump.

As the for the "millionaires
tax" the president wants to impose, "I
don't like someone telling me I'm not paying my fair share of
taxes," Pickens said.

"I’ve got to be identified as an expert.
I’m 83. After the age of 70 I’ve paid $650 million in taxes."

He joked that he'd rather see the
president back legislation that "after 80 you don’t have to pay
anymore taxes."